Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I walk after her. “Are you all right?” I ask, keeping my voice low and soft. I want to reach out and put my hand on her shoulder but I’m afraid she would lash out.
“I’m fine,” she says, slowly turning around to face me. She winces as she runs the back of her arm over her forehead. “Just tired.”
Right. It’s not that. Still, I tell her, “Perhaps we’ve been working you too hard. You need some rest. I forget that you’re not…”
“One of you?” she says bluntly.
I take a step toward her, fighting the urge to reach out and hold her hand, even for a moment. “Believe me, I think it’s a blessing that you’re not one of us.”
She has that look in her eyes again, the one that wants to tell me something. Why can’t she come out and say it? I’d go crazy if I had to keep my feelings inside.
“The other day,” she says in a low voice, her eyes darting over to Solla, who has put her head back down, pruning a small tree, “when you said you weren’t sure if you could fix ailments? Have you ever tried? Has anyone in your family come to you with a sore back, or a headache from too much wine?”
My throat thickens and I struggle to swallow down the shame. “No. They haven’t.”
“Really?” she asks, a sheen of hope in her eyes. I don’t like that look.
“Really,” I tell her. For good reason.
“Then how do you know you can’t?” she asks, her gaze imploring and intense. “Listen, I saw what you did to Lemi. I don’t know if he was truly dead when that dragon pinned him down, but I saw you heal him. I just didn’t know it at the time. If you can do that—”
“He’s just a dog.”
Her stare turns acidic. “He’s not just a dog.”
“You know what I mean. He’s not a human. On top of that, he has suen abilities. That makes us harder to kill regardless.”
“You healed him,” she says. There’s a gravity to her voice that pulls at something inside me, something soft, something hidden. “So maybe you can heal me.”
I blink at her in surprise, then look her up and down, as if I’ll see some obvious wounds. “Did you hurt yourself or—?”
“You know what, forget it,” she says quickly, turning and walking away.
This time I do reach out and grab her by the forearm, forcing her to face me. I pull her close to me, enough that she lets out a small gasp, but I don’t let go and I don’t care if I’m being pushy.
“Tell me what’s wrong with you,” I say, my voice coming out gruff and impatient. “What needs healing?”
Indignation sparks in her eyes. “Unhand me,” she practically growls at me, writhing in my grasp.
I sigh and decide to release her. I expect her to walk off again but she stays where she is, only a foot between us. The air smells like basil and sun-baked stone, but there’s something else too, sweet like honey, that seems to radiate off her. For some reason I have a hard time taking in a breath.
“This is…personal,” she begins, squinting at me warily.
“You can tell me. I won’t tell a soul.”
She doesn’t look like she believes me.
“I promise,” I go on. “I would never. I keep my promises.”
“It’s sort of embarrassing,” she says, her eyes flicking over to Lemi at the fountain, though I have a feeling she’s just avoiding my gaze. I stare at her anyway, coaxing her to continue.
She sighs and rubs at her forehead with the heel of her palm. “I get pains every month. In my lower abdomen. Sometimes it lasts for a few days, sometimes it can last a week. Sometimes it comes in the middle of the moon cycle for no reason, to kick me when I’m down. I haven’t had any while I’ve been here but…I know it’s coming. It always comes.”
I frown. “Have you been to a doctor?”
Her face twists into a wry expression. “What do you think? Yes. I’ve been to a few doctors. But doctors are expensive to visit, even in the Banished Land, and they can’t help me. Only one doctor suggested surgery, but so far we’ve been unable to find a surgeon to do it for a price that I can afford, let alone one that will actually take it seriously. They dismiss it as a woman’s problem. If you know what I mean.”
I nod. “Is it something to do with the way you bleed once a month?”
Her head jerks back, as if I’ve said something scandalous.
“What?” I go on. “It happens. I know about it. I’ve even been with a woman when she…”
Her eyes widen and her cheeks bloom with color.
I clear my throat. She doesn’t need to hear about the women I’ve slept with. “Regardless, I know. Sure, it’s not talked about often, but I know. So the pain is associated with it.”